STARS GATHER TO FILM 'THE COTTAGE'
A FILM starring the Lord of the Rings' Andy Serkis will begin shooting in the Island today (Tuesday).
As well as Serkis, who played Gollum in the blockbuster trilogy, The Cottage will feature The League of Gentlemen's Reece Shearsmith and former Brookside babe Jennifer Ellison.

A spokesman for Isle of Man Film said the £2.6million production is a 'British comedy-horror along the lines of Severance, a recent Isle of Man Film success'.

Island regular Martin Pope, of Magic Light Pictures (Sparkle, Lawless Heart), will be executive producer while Paul Andrew Williams and Ken Marshall, the team behind the multiple award winning hit London to Brighton, will take on the directing and producing roles.

The production will use a variety of Island locations and will undertake a number of night shoots. Once filming is complete on April 13, cast and crew will decamp to Yorkshire for a further three weeks.

Paul Andrew Williams, director of the acclaimed London to Brighton, has secured £770,000 in lottery funding for his second film, The Cottage. Billed as a "black horror comedy", The Cottage will star Andy Serkis and The League of Gentlemen's Reece Shearsmith as brothers who kidnap a mobster's daughter, hole up in the woods and inadvertently stumble upon a dark rural secret. Production begins next month on locations in Yorkshire and the Isle of Man. London to Brighton, Williams's 2006 debut feature, was hailed by Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw as "the best British film of the year".

Sounds like a good film though (I thought London to Brighton was brilliant, so I hope this is just as good!), I can't wait to see it when it comes out. Hopefully the sneak preview will be available online somewhere!